2006.11.16: November 16, 2006: Headlines: COS - Grenada: Youth: The Ithacan Online: Colin Bauer served in Grenada, an island nation in the Caribbean, from July 2002 until August 2004 as a youth outreach volunteer

Colin Bauer served in Grenada, an island nation in the Caribbean, from July 2002 until August 2004 as a youth outreach volunteer

For Bauer, the work was an easy transition since he used to work at a summer camp, instructing inner-city children in music and drama. “Take the work I did with the city kids, but think more underserved, more uneducated and even less resources. Then stick it on an island 25 feet long, and that’s my experience in Grenada,” he said.

Since 1961, 125 Ithaca College grads have traveled the world as Peace Corps volunteers

By Erin Geismar / Staff Writer

November 16, 2006

[Excerpt]

Bauer, a music performance major, said he knew he did not want a career playing music after graduation.

“One day, I was bored [with] music theory, and I started looking around on the Internet,” he said. “The Peace Corps Web site just popped up in front of me. Then two months after graduation, I was gone.”

Bauer served in Grenada, an island nation in the Caribbean, from July 2002 until August 2004 as a youth outreach volunteer.

For Bauer, the work was an easy transition since he used to work at a summer camp, instructing inner-city children in music and drama.

“Take the work I did with the city kids, but think more underserved, more uneducated and even less resources. Then stick it on an island 25 feet long, and that’s my experience in Grenada,” he said.

[Excerpt]

Bauer said he thinks the Peace Corps has honed in on improving the American image overseas and said that, as a white American, he took certain safeguards each day.

“You just can’t be so naive to think that everyone loves Americans,” he said. The volunteers said the relationships formed while serving were key to not getting homesick. Michael said fellow volunteers became her family.

“By the end of two years, you’re like, ‘Home, where?’” she said. “That is your home.”

[Excerpt]

Bauer and his fiancée, Tonia, plan to return to Grenada, but said they will wait until Tonia’s 6-year-old daughter, Jada, finishes high school.

“I realized that if I really wanted to help, I would need a lot more experience and money,” he said.

The couple’s hope is to develop a group home for neglected and abused girls, and eventually turn its control over to the people of Grenada.

“It should be their project and they should be able to run it without government assistance,” he said.

Both Cocks and Bauer agreed they felt like they were actually part of another culture, not just volunteers.

“I was the only white person among 15,000 people,” Bauer said. “But after a while, it really was just a skin color. It’s not just your personality that changes. It’s your soul.”

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The Peace Corps is "fashionable" againThe LA Times says that "the Peace Corps is booming again and "It's hard to know exactly what's behind the resurgence." PCOL Comment: Since the founding of the Peace Corps 45 years ago, Americans have answered Kennedy's call: "Ask not what your country can do for you--ask what you can do for your country. My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man." Over 182,000 have served. Another 200,000 have applied and been unable to serve because of lack of Congressional funding. The Peace Corps has never gone out of fashion. It's Congress that hasn't been keeping pace.

PCOL readership increases 100%Monthly readership on "Peace Corps Online" has increased in the past twelve months to 350,000 visitors - over eleven thousand every day - a 100% increase since this time last year. Thanks again, RPCVs and Friends of the Peace Corps, for making PCOL your source of information for the Peace Corps community. And thanks for supporting the Peace Corps Library and History of the Peace Corps. Stay tuned, the best is yet to come.

History of the Peace CorpsPCOL is proud to announce that Phase One of the "History of the Peace Corps" is now available online. This installment includes over 5,000 pages of primary source documents from the archives of the Peace Corps including every issue of "Peace Corps News," "Peace Corps Times," "Peace Corps Volunteer," "Action Update," and every annual report of the Peace Corps to Congress since 1961. "Ask Not" is an ongoing project. Read how you can help.

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Story Source: The Ithacan Online

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